Ghana

Nigeria

Ghana's relations with Nigeria, West Africa's leading country, began on a sour note in the early period of PNDC rule. Tension rose immediately after the PNDC deposed Limann in 1981. In protest, Nigeria refused to continue much-needed oil supplies to Ghana. At the time, Ghana owed Nigeria about US$150 million for crude oil supplies and depended on Nigeria for about 90 percent of its petroleum needs. Nigeria's expulsion of more then 1 million Ghanaian immigrants in early 1983, when Ghana was facing severe drought and economic problems, and of another 300,000 in early 1985 on short notice, further strained relations between the two countries.

In April 1988, a joint commission for cooperation was established between Ghana and Nigeria. A bloodless coup in August 1985 had brought Major General Ibrahim Babangida to power in Nigeria, and Rawlings took advantage of the change of administration to pay an official visit. The two leaders discussed a wide range of issues focusing on peace and prosperity within West Africa, bilateral trade, and the transition to democracy in both countries. In early January 1989, Babangida reciprocated with an official visit to Ghana, which the PNDC hailed as a watershed in Ghana-Nigeria relations.

Subsequent setbacks that Babangida initiated in the democratic transition process in Nigeria clearly disappointed Accra. Nonetheless, the political crisis that followed Babangida's annulment of the results of the June 1993 Nigerian presidential election and Babangida's resignation from the army and presidency two months later did not significantly alter the existing close relations between Ghana and Nigeria, two of the most important members of ECOWAS and the Commonwealth of Nations. After the takeover in November 1993 by General Sani Abacha as the new Nigerian head of state, Ghana and Nigeria continued to consult on economic, political, and security issues affecting the two countries and West Africa as a whole. Between early August 1994 when Rawlings became ECOWAS chairman and the end of the following October, the Ghanaian president visited Nigeria three times to discuss the peace process in Liberia and measures to restore democracy in that country.

Data as of November 1994

Ghana - TABLE OF CONTENTS

• THE PROVISIONAL NATIONAL DEFENCE COUNCIL
  • The Political Scene Under the PNDC
  • Revolutionary Organs
• THE TRANSITION FROM MILITARY RULE TO DEMOCRATIC GOVERNMENT
  • Political Ferment Under the PNDC
  • Interest Groups and National Politics
  • District Assembly Elections
  • Charting the Political Transition
  • Presidential Elections
  • Parliamentary Elections
• THE FOURTH REPUBLIC
  • The 1992 Constitution
  • The Judiciary
  • The Civil Service
  • The Media
  • Regional and Local Government
• POLITICAL DYNAMICS UNDER THE FOURTH REPUBLIC
  • Launching the Fourth Republic
  • Developing Democratic Institutions
• FOREIGN RELATIONS
  • Guiding Principles and Objectives
  • Relations with Immediate African Neighbors
    • Togo and Côte d'Ivoire
    • Burkina
    • Nigeria
  • The Organization of African Unity and the Rest of Africa
  • Britain and the Commonwealth
  • The United States
  • Other Countries
  • International Organizations
• FUTURE DEMOCRATIC PROSPECTS